


Rush

by helsinkibaby



Series: Right Beside Me Around Every Turn [8]
Category: The Flying Doctors
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon Het Relationship, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-13 05:42:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12977265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: The longest afternoon of Tom's life starts with a clinic run being cancelled.





	Rush

**Author's Note:**

> For gen prompt bingo, prompt "afternoon"

The longest afternoon Tom can ever remember in his life starts out in a perfectly ordinary way. He's finishing up a clinic run, packing his bag after his last patient, looking forward to the cup of tea that the host has waiting for him, glancing at his watch as he tries to work out if he has time to eat a sandwich and a slice of sponge cake or if he's going to have to choose one or the other. As he's considering the likelihood that Mrs Flynn will actually wrap some up to take on the plane with him, he sees Sam come into the room. The usually affable pilot has a serious look on his face and he makes a beeline for Tom the second he sees him. 

"Change of plans, Tom," he says, keeping his voice low, his eyes scanning the room like he's hoping no-one will overhear them. "Geoff's cancelled the next clinic, we're heading straight back to Cooper's Crossing." 

Tom frowns, knowing how rare that is. "Is there an emergency?" he asks and when Sam's jaw visibly tightens, Tom suddenly grows cold all over. 

"Geoff's waiting for you to radio him, he'll explain everything." Which only adds to Tom's unease and when Sam adds as Tom moves away, "It's on a secure channel, no-one else will hear you," he stops in his tracks, his heart feeling like it's stopped too. Then he's able to move again and he finds himself hurrying to the plane, leaving Sam and Penny to tidy up. 

Once he's on the plane, he jams the headset on. "Victor Charlie Charlie, this is Mike Sierra Foxtrot. Come-"

He doesn't even get the greeting finished before there's a voice on the other end. "Tom, it's DJ." Tom has never heard the gregarious DJ sound quite so serious. "Stand by for Geoff." 

If DJ came on quickly, it seems to take an age for Geoff's voice to sound in Tom's ear. "Tom, it's Geoff." He sounds completely calm and in control, but Tom's not fooled. After more than two years working with the man, he knows what Geoff's Bad News voice sounds like. "Now, I don't want you to worry, everything's fine-"

Which means it isn't. Or ar least, at some point since Tom left this morning, it wasn't And there's only one reason that Geoff would cancel a clinic run and bring him back to town. "What happened? Where is she?" 

"Chris took a bit of a turn." It's on the tip of Tom's tongue to demand further details and if he had any moisture in his throat he'd probably do just that. Instead, he can't speak and Geoff, mercifully, might just know that. "She went tachycardic during her clinic call. We got it under control, she's in the hospital now, resting." There's a pause, during which Tom rubs his hand over his face, struggles to get his breathing under control. "Heart rate's still a little fast for my liking, and her blood pressure's a bit on the high side, but that could be due to the fright..." 

"Or the tumour." Because they both know it's a possibility, just like they both know that they're all out of options now. 

"She's going to have to have the surgery," Geoff says, confirming Tom's thoughts. "I think she knows that now... but I said I'd wait until she talked to you before I made any calls to Sydney. Sam's going to get you back here soon as... I'll see you at the hospital later on." 

Tom nods, then realises Geoff can't actually see him. "Thanks, Geoff." 

"Victor Charlie Charlie over and out." 

The radio goes silent and there's no noise in the cockpit apart from Tom's ragged breathing. Wrenching the headset off, he tries to take a moment to compose himself, but then he gives it up as a bad job. He could stay here for a year but he's not going to feel any better until he sees Chris with his own eyes, hears her voice, holds her in his arms. Standing, he goes to the door of the plane, but when he sticks his head out, he sees Sam and Penny already there, all the equipment around them. Sam's jaw is still set and Penny is pale, her eyes worried which is a dead giveaway that Sam's filled her in. When she sees Tom looking at her, she looks away quickly and Tom sucks in a shaky breath. 

Sam breaks the silence. "Let's go," he says and none of them are inclined to argue with him. 

He sits up front in the cockpit with Sam and he's flown on enough RFDS planes with enough RFDS pilots to know that Sam has the throttle pushed all the way in, is doing his best to get them back to Cooper's Crossing as quickly as possible. It's still not fast enough for Tom's liking though, the flight seeming to take forever despite Sam's best efforts. When they finally do touch down, Tom doesn't need to hear Sam's, "Go," before he's on his way out and onto the tarmac. He's in his car and off to the hospital as fast as he can and when he gets there, Geoff is waiting for him. It's about the first time that Tom has blessed the Bush Telegraph because Geoff leads him straight to Chris's room, but stays outside, allowing Tom to go in alone. 

Chris is lying in bed, eyes closed. She's as pale as he's ever seen her, dark shadows under her eyes, but when he stands beside the bed, touches her hand, her eyes open straight away and she's even able to give him a small smile. 

"Sorry I disrupted your clinic run," are the first words out of her mouth and he hears himself make a noise that's half laugh, half sob as he drops down to sit on the side of her bed, pulling her into a hug. 

"Don't ever scare me like that again," he orders, his voice slightly muffled by her hair but she hears him well enough, tightens her arms around his neck. 

"I scared myself," she whispers. A shudder runs through her and her voice drops even more as she admits, "I thought I was going to die."

He hadn't entertained that possibility, not even for a moment, mostly because by the time he'd been notified, the danger had already passed. Still, it had been a possibility and while he's known that ever since her diagnosis, he's finding that knowing it intellectually and seeing it with his own two eyes are totally different things. "Not going to happen," he says, kissing the side of her head. "I refuse to let it." 

He feels a soft huff of air against his neck. "I wish it was that easy." 

He does too but he doesn't say it. Instead he straightens up enough to cup her face in his hands, lean in and kiss her lips. "You're going to be fine," he says. "We'll talk to Geoff... organise the surgery. And I'll be there, every step of the way. I'm not going anywhere." He kisses her again then, feels her tears against his skin and for all that he's a doctor, he knows that all he can do right now is hold her tight, so that's exactly what he does.


End file.
